Hi. My name is Jen, and I have had chronic pain since as far back as I can remember (even in middle school). I was just told I have the sypmtoms of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS). All the symptoms exactly fit what I have been going through my entire life. I am only 31 and am in constant pain, and every year it just keeps getting worse. I have been in physical therapy on and off since I was a kid, but never provided with any sort of diagnosis of what was causing my pain. So I am hoping that I will finally have a diagnosis and then they can treat the underlying problems instead of just the symptoms. I am being sent to a nerve specialist to have nerve conduction tests done in 4 weeks. I just started physical therapy today (and tonight my nerves are severely flared up). So, now that I have a name for what has been causing me pain my entire life, I thought I would come on here to learn more about this condition from others who may have it.

My biggest question to everyone, is what you are doing for pain relief? My biggest issue, is that I have liver problems and cannot take any medication! That makes it quite a challenge. So if I have muscle pain, I use heat. If my nerve pain is bad, I use ice. I go to a massage therapist once a week, and a chiropractor a couple of times a week. Those all help with the intensity of the pain, but the pain is always there. So any recommendations on how I can reduce my pain without medication would be really helpful.

This condition has affected me my whole life, and I have just learned to be tough and learned to ignore it as best I can, since I am very athletic and active and try to not let it stop me from doing the things I love, but it does keep me from doing things sometimes. Making it worse is that I sit at a computer during the day, which is like a nightmare. But somehow I get through each day. How is everyone else coping?